The Mountain's Promise
by JennysLizardLady
Summary: A Vastra x Jenny short. Jenny has a question about some of her wife's choice of words when she was confronting Clara and what she may have been indirectly referring to. (AN: Set right after Vastra's last scene in 'Deep Breath' from Series 8. I can't be the only one who noticed Jenny's face during that scene can I? Shippers you know what I'm talking about.)


**The Mountain's Promise**

After a long few days since the Doctor appeared, everything seemed to be calming down at last...much to the residents of 13 Paternoster Row's relief. In the distance the whir of the TARDIS engines stole the attention of the nervous young woman stood within the beautiful house, her face immediately lightening from its previous frown. Turning swiftly, she began to make a run for the door.

"Clara." Vastra called quickly to the Doctor's faithful companion, watching as a flurry of brunette hair twirled to face her. "Give him Hell he'll always need it." Her only reply was an amused breath as an excited, relieved smile spread across Clara's face. Within seconds she was gone, rushing off down the streets to meet the Doctor and embark on new adventures.

For a moment the Silurian stood with a satisfied smile, her gaze on the door Clara had just soared through until the familiar scent of her wife entering the room stirred her from her trance.  
>"Miss. Clara's gone then?" Jenny asked with a tiny hint of disappointment behind her tone as she edged closer to Vastra. Cerulean orbs darted from the door to the window just as the TARDIS began to disappear outside, the notorious sound kicking in once more.<p>

"It would seem so, my love. I do hope they'll be alright." Despite her confidence that Clara would stand by the Doctor's side even with her doubts, Vastra couldn't seem to shake off the feeling that somehow it was going to be a very difficult journey for them both.

"I'm sure they will ma'am, after all they've got each other ain't they?" Her wife's words were supposed to be comforting but her evolved senses told Vastra otherwise. A frown curled between scales as the Silurian took in her wife's hidden feelings. Behind that statement...she could sense nervous anticipation and a hint of fear. A terribly long silence fell between the two women until eventually Jenny broke it with a question she struggled to get out properly.

"I-I was wonderin' well...um...do you 'ave a minute?" It was a polite way of indirectly saying 'we need to talk' - Vastra knew that, after all, she knew her wife well enough to know when something was bothering her. Instead of jumping to conclusions, she tried to respond as casually as she could.

"Is something on your mind, my dear?" Another pause...seemingly longer than the last. Jenny was building up the courage to say something she might regret but it was now or never; if she left it much longer the moment would pass and honesty was crucial in a marriage.

"All that stuff you said to Clara...about flirtin' with a mountain range." Vastra felt her heart sink.  
>"Yes, what of it?" The Silurian's gaze was still fixed on the window but she could see Jenny fiddling with her sleeves anxiously out of the corner of her eye.<p>

"Was it...were you..."  
>"For goodness sake Jenny what is it?" For the first time since her wife had entered the room, Vastra's cerulean orbs dropped to the young woman and immediately she felt guilty for her sharp tone the moment she saw the nerves behind Jenny's beautiful eyes.<p>

"Were you talkin' 'bout us?" The dark-haired girl finally asked, her tone masking her fear well.  
>"Of course not." The lack of pause this time spoke louder to Jenny than Vastra's words.<br>"You're lyin' to me."  
>"Don't be ridiculous." Scoffing guiltily, the scaled woman turned her body away from her wife's, pacing towards the door, clearly intending on leaving the conversation there.<p>

"I always know when you're lyin' to me so don't you dare keep doin' it." Vastra stopped dead in front of the door; she knew that firm tone well...Jenny wasn't going to drop it, there was no use in running from the room or trying to dismiss the topic. The days of mistress and maid had long since passed, they were equals and just as Vastra expected Jenny to talk when she herself had an issue, the Silurian had to comply when the tables were turned. Even knowing this, her pride and terror of exploring the subject caused a smart arse response to slip out before she had time to reconsider.

"I answered your question it is up to you how you interpret the answer." Jenny purposely ignored the hint to close the conversation, pressing her wife further instead.

"Why are you doin' this?"

"Doing what?" Whenever Vastra uttered that last word, Jenny's heart would squeeze from how sweet it sounded. The first letter always seemed to roll off her wife's tongue in a whisper but she didn't have time to admire the small things she loved about her partner even if her heart did respond the usual way.

"Pushin' me away. I'm not stupid!" Sky blue eyes rolled to the heavens as she kept her back to Jenny, ignoring how her wife's heartbeat had quickened considerably. She felt sick to the stomach and wanted nothing more than to run away and curl up in a ball. Oh how the mighty Silurian warrior had changed.  
>"I never implied that you were." Vastra's tone was serious as she finally turned away from the door to face the smaller woman, refusing to meet her gaze.<p>

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?" Jenny's question was one she couldn't answer and a terrible silence fell between the lovers for what felt like longer than Vastra's entire hibernation period.

"I have the right to know why." Once more it was Jenny who broke the silence, her tone defiant and unwavering in its strength. Vastra felt something snap inside of her as she finally let go of her 'calm' demeanour and opened up her emotions to the woman who held her heart.  
>"To protect you! I'm doing it to protect you." Her voice rose to an unbearable height as Jenny stared at her with big, round, chocolate coloured eyes, not even flinching from her partner's raised voice.<p>

"From what?" The old warrior tried to ignore the underlying softness behind Jenny's words as she carefully brushed past the young girl, moving to stand in front of the window, placing her gloved palms against the wooden sill.  
>"From me." Vastra barely managed to utter the answer and keep her emotion steady as her grip tightened against the window sill. Jenny was quiet for a long time, attempting to take in what her wife was trying to indirectly tell her.<p>

"You'd never 'urt me..." A bitter smile curled at the corners of Vastra's mouth as she heard- no...as she _felt_ the belief behind Jenny's reply. The trust she sensed was so strong she could barely stop herself from swaying; there wasn't even a flicker of doubt.  
>"No, of course I wouldn't. Not intentionally, <em><strong>never<strong>_ intentionally."  
>"Then I don't understand." A long, exhausted sigh slipped free as Vastra shifted to face Jenny, stepping closer, taking her hands tightly.<p>

"Jenny...I love you. I love you with all of my heart and my soul. Everything that I am I would give to you in a second." Jenny's heart almost stopped as she heard the change in her wife's tone, the softness, the utter devotion behind each syllable.  
>"I-I thought you..." She stammered in confusion, a frown creased against her pretty features.<br>"Yes, I know, I already have. I should have stopped myself but I allowed my heart to take control. This is no fault of your own. I am to blame."

"Are you sayin' you don't want to be with me?" The question felt like poison on her lips but she couldn't stop it. Vastra's veil was back up, her expression impossible to read...impossible to anyone who wasn't Jenny.  
>"No." Jenny's frown deepened as she pulled her hands free, staring up at Vastra, confusion and pain mixed into one.<p>

"What...? What did you just say?" The girl's heart felt like it was going to implode as Vastra's angelic blue eyes tore away from her own. She wanted to scream at her, to hit her and force her to look into her eyes but Jenny couldn't speak, she was paralysed with fear.

"No, I do not want to be with you." Vastra's voice wavered again, dangerously close to breaking at the end of the sentence. Jenny knew she was lying; it was obvious by the way she refused to look at her but it still hurt...it still felt like her ribs were being crushed inside her chest one by one.

"But I don't understand why!" She gave into her anger, shouting at her wife with tears brimming the corners of her eyes.

"Because one day you will look at me and my face will be unchanged but yours will be patterned with creases from the years gone by. How will that make you feel? How will you stand to look at me then? When your body grows tired and cannot keep up with my own...it is not fair of me to do that to you." Vastra's own voice raised as she finally admitted what she was so terrified of. This fear had come to her mind many times before when her relationship with Jenny had started to deepen and grow intimate. Every time her mind tried to scare her with the difference in age she would fight it, ignore it...but it seemed her old friend's change of face had reignited the fear inside her heart.

"No, I'll tell you what's not bleedin' fair! For you to make a judgement like that! If I do grow old I already know 'ow I'll feel." Vastra almost flinched at the pure rage behind Jenny's words, her eyes widening as she listened to the way her wife's accent deepened from her heightened emotion. She was so beautiful...a blaze of fire and passion. Vastra could sense her confidence, she could feel Jenny's firm certainty about the future emanating from her like a tidal wave.

"I'll look at you and see the woman I fell in love with all those years ago and I'll be proud to 'ave shared my life with her." The belief was there behind each word as Vastra's heart strings tugged painfully. Her own fear was still too strong, she couldn't stop her doubt from worming its way out of her mouth.

"But you cannot know that-"  
>"And you can't know either. That's the point. Stop tryin' to predict what I might think or feel! Sometimes I don't even know ma'self." Jenny's words were true enough; humans were often unpredictable, Vastra was well aware of it but it often made life so terribly difficult.<p>

"There must be a way we can-" She was cut off before her fear could finish speaking.  
>"A'right. If we're to play this game then I'll join in shall I? What if when I'm old and wrinkled and weak you can't stand the sight of me? What if our love changes with my age? What if you grow bored of me?" Vastra felt a flare inside her heart and in an instant the words were out of her mouth before she could think – it was instinctual.<br>"I could never grow 'bored' of you." Jenny smiled and the Silurian immediately understood she had just successfully proven her point.  
>"You can't know that. See? It's not that simple is it?" The small human tilted her head, her orbs gazing up at her wife's face, watching her reaction. Her clever, clever Jenny...so wise for one so young, always keeping her on her feet, never failing to surprise her during the moments when it counted most.<p>

"I am robbing you of a normal life I have no right to do that." She almost laughed at that then. A normal life? Oh if Jenny had wanted one of those she would have walked away a long, long time ago.  
>"A normal life? Sorry, what's one of those again?"<p>

"Jenny you know what I mean."Vastra started in a firm tone, ignoring the sarcasm and hint of playfulness behind her wife's response. The fear in her old heart was kicking in again, feeding off her paranoia as she started to go off on a big speech.

"Ma'am...please..." Jenny tried to interrupt her wife's rambling as Vastra's arms grew animated.  
>"No, I will not let this go, we have to-"<p>

"Ma'am-"

"-something must be done about this, we cannot just-"  
>"Vastra!" The use of her name stopped her mid-sentence as she dropped her arms to the side, her cerulean orbs wide as a sheepish expression fell across her scaled face. Jenny was flustered from her attempt to shut her up and the Silurian almost smiled from how adorable she looked.<p>

"Shut up a minute will you? Let me 'ave my say." Vastra gave in, rubbing the back of her crests awkwardly as she cleared her throat.

"Of...of course...I'm sorry." She muttered with embarrassment, gazing down at the floor, waiting for Jenny to continue. Before the silence was broken, Vastra felt warm palms slide onto her gloved hands. Jenny didn't hold them but instead very gently pulled the gloves off, revealing Vastra's emerald scales, glistening under the daylight. A small smile reached the dark-haired girl's lips as her eyes fell to the sparkling skin of her wife's hands. With no barrier between them, Jenny took Vastra's hands tightly. The Silurian automatically laced her fingers with Jenny's, after all it was second nature to her.

"When you chose to marry me...you made a promise. You made plenty with words but so many more without. We're in this until the end, you and me. I know you're scared. Sometimes it scares me too, thinkin' 'bout the future but d'yknow what I do that always helps?" Vastra listened to her wife carefully, giving her hands a gentle squeeze as she found an uncontrollable smile had reached her face from the memory of their wedding.

"What do you do that always helps?" She repeated softly, her gaze never leaving Jenny's.

"Stop thinkin' about it." A small amused breath slipped free from the taller woman. Who knew the answer could be so simple? Take away the complexity and the fear won't be fed. Jenny pressed on with determination behind her sparkling orbs.

"I focus on right 'ere and now. I focus on you. We know better than most people the future's never set in stone, anythin' could 'appen or anythin' couldn't 'appen. So please...stop thinkin' about it?" The two held gazes for what felt like an eternity. Letting out a soft cry of relief, Vastra wrapped her arms tightly around Jenny, squeezing her so hard it was a wonder the poor girl didn't burst.

"Oh Jenny...my beautiful Jenny Flint...what would I do without you?" She whispered against Jenny's hair, kissing any part of her wife she could reach in their embrace. Jenny clung to Vastra's dress, her tiny hands curling against the silk material as she nuzzled into her wife's chest. For a while they just held each other as the evil beast of terror at the back of Vastra's mind howled in defeat, fading away.

"I'm so sorry...I love you, Jenny. Please do not doubt that. I am a fool sometimes." Pulling away just enough to be able to look down into her wife's eyes, Vastra's expression was filled with pure adoration for her tiny human girl.

"Only sometimes?" Jenny's mouth curled into a playful smile as Vastra chuckled and shook her head, squeezing Jenny's waist as she raised her scaled brow.

"I love you too you silly old lizard. Don't you ever try and push me away again. You here me?" The argument had passed and resolved itself thanks to Jenny's incredible patience and love but Vastra sensed the strength of the threat and knew Jenny meant it...oh Goddess did she mean it.

"I here you, my love and I will not. I promise." Her promise was sealed with a kiss and Vastra wondered how she could ever have doubted that they would remain together until the very end.


End file.
